A top US anti-drugs official has accused Venezuelan President Hugo-Chavez of being a "major facilitator" of the trade in cocaine.
The official, John Walters, said Venezuela had become "a haven" for shipments of cocaine manufactured in neighbouring Colombia.
Mr Walters, speaking on a visit to Colombia, said failure to deal with the problem amounted to complicity. Mr Walters, director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), was meeting Colombian President Alvaro-Uribe.
Via BBC
More than an inmate a day died violently in Venezuela's prisons last year, as riots and weapons trafficking ran rampant, a human rights group has said.
Some 498 Venezuelan prisoners were killed in riots and other violent acts in 2007, up from 412 in 2006, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons.
So far this year, at least 15 prisoners have died, the group's director, Humberto-Prado, told a news conference.
He blamed the killings largely on arms-trafficking.
Officials seized 3,825 weapons, including 3,000 knives and 200 pistols, in Venezuelan jails last year, he said.
Via AP
